Method of managing multimedia data and mobile communication terminal equipped with function of managing multimedia data

ABSTRACT

A mobile communication terminal having a function of managing multimedia data is provided, including: a main memory including a multimedia database storing the multimedia data; a signal processor converting the multimedia data stored in the main memory into data of a format suitable to be output to a display of the mobile communication terminal; a back_end chip which processes the multimedia data outputted from the signal processor, stores digest information of multimedia data upon occurrence of an update event of the multimedia data, and provides the stored digest information upon receiving a signal of requesting the digest information to be synchronized; and a front_end chip including a controller which requests the digest information stored in the back_end chip, compares and synchronizes the digest information offered from the back_end chip and digest information stored in advance in the front_end chip.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/298,284, filed on Dec. 9, 2005, and claims the benefit of and thepriority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0106554, filed onDec. 15, 2004,which are both herby incorporated by reference for allpurpose as if fully set forth herein.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal and,more particularly, to a technology of storing digest information ofmultimedia data both in a front_end chip and in a back_end chip of themobile communication terminal and synchronizing the digest informationbetween both of the chips.

2. Description of Related Art

In recent years, mobile communication terminals equipped with variousfunctions are increasingly becoming popular. For instance, most of themobile communication terminals currently released are equipped with acamera function. Moreover, mobile communication terminals equipped witha TV viewing function have been recently put on the market. With such atrend, the mobile communication terminals have become more than justdevices for communications; they now function as multimedia devices.Users transfer music files, send photos, and surf the web much morefrequently than before.

Meanwhile, a mobile communication terminal includes a back_end chipwhich is responsible for processing multimedia data. The back_endprocesses YUV-format data outputted from an image signal processor(ISP), which processes multimedia data inputted through a camera oroffered from a mobile carrier, and outputs it to a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) of the mobile communication terminal. Examples of theback_end chip include a mobile station modem (MSM) or a digital signalprocessor (DSP).

However, conventionally, only any one of the front_end and back_endchips stores digest information of multimedia data inputted through acamera or offered from a mobile carrier. As a result, when frequentmessage exchange between both of the chips takes place to output themultimedia data, a processing speed of the mobile communication terminalmay be reduced. In addition, there is a problem in that when any data isdestroyed in a chip storing the multimedia data, users cannot use thedata any more.

SUMMARY

The embodiments of the present invention provide a method of managingmultimedia data and a mobile communication terminal equipped with afunction of managing the multimedia data so that overload imposed on themobile communication terminal due to frequent message exchange between afront_end chip and a back_end chip can be prevented.

The embodiments of the present invention also provide a method ofmanaging multimedia data and a mobile communication terminal equippedwith a function of managing the multimedia data so that it is possibleto prevent content from being unavailable due to a loss of informationon multimedia data stored in a chip of the mobile communicationterminal.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided amobile communication terminal having a function of managing multimediadata, including: a main memory having a multimedia database storing themultimedia data; a signal processor converting the multimedia datastored in the main memory into data of a format suitable to be output toa display of the mobile communication terminal; a back_end chip whichprocesses the multimedia data outputted from the signal processor,stores digest information of multimedia data upon occurrence of anupdate event of the multimedia data, and provides the stored digestinformation upon receiving a signal of requesting the digest informationto be synchronized; and a front_end chip including a controller whichcontrols the mobile communication terminal, requests the digestinformation stored in the back_end chip, compares and synchronizes thedigest information offered from the back_end chip and digest informationstored in advance in the front_end chip.

The mobile communication terminal may further include a camera unitconverting a light signal inputted via a lens system into an electricalimage signal.

The back_end chip may include: a multimedia processor processing themultimedia data outputted from the signal processor and outputting theprocessed multimedia data to a display of the mobile communicationterminal; a first encryptor extracting and encrypting digest informationof multimedia data which is outputted in real time from the camera unitor a wireless communication unit or is stored in the main memory; afirst sub-memory storing the digest information outputted from the firstencryptor; and a digest information processor which provides the digestinformation stored in the first encryptor upon occurrence of asynchronization event and updates the first sub-memory when the digestinformation is updated.

The controller may include: a second encryptor extracting and encryptingdigest information of multimedia data which is outputted in real timefrom the camera unit or a wireless communication unit or is stored inthe main memory; a second sub-memory storing the digest information ofmultimedia data encrypted by the second encryptor; and a digestinformation synchronization unit comparing and synchronizing digestinformation of multimedia data received or collected from the digestinformation processor and digest information of multimedia data storedin the second sub-memory.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, there isprovided a method of managing multimedia data in a mobile communicationterminal, the method including the operations of: encrypting and storingdigest information of multimedia data in a front_end chip and a back_endchip upon occurrence of an update event of the multimedia data;requesting digest information of multimedia data stored in the back_endchip; and comparing and synchronizing digest information of multimediadata provided from the back_end chip and digest information ofmultimedia data stored in advance in the front_end chip.

The front_end chip and the back_end chip may authenticate digestinformation of multimedia data between the two chips using an MD5(message digest 5) algorithm. The front_end chip and the back_end chipmay synchronize updated digest information of multimedia data when thedigest information of multimedia data is updated. The front_end chip andthe back_end chip may synchronize digest information of multimedia dataupdated at predetermined time periods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features and advantages of the present inventionwill become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodimentsthereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal equippedwith a function of managing multimedia data in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a process of managing multimedia data in amobile communication terminal in accordance with another embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments in accordance with the present invention will nowbe described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a mobile communication terminal equippedwith a multimedia data management function in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention. The mobile communication terminalincludes a main memory 190 having a multimedia database 191 storingmultimedia data, a signal processor 200 converting the multimedia datainto data of a format suitable to be output to a display of the mobilecommunication terminal, a front_end chip 210 including a controller 211,a back_end chip 220 processing the multimedia data outputted from thesignal processor 200, and other components commonly used in typicalmobile communication terminals.

The components commonly used in typical mobile communication terminalsinclude a keypad 110, a display 120 displaying menu and operatingstates, a display drive unit 130 outputting graphic data to the display120, a wireless communication unit 140 extracting data signals includingvoice and multimedia data from wireless signals transmitted/received viaan antenna, a voice input/output circuit 150 inputting/outputting voicesignals received from the wireless communication unit 140 via amicrophone and a speaker, an audio player 160, and an audio output unit170.

The keypad 110 and the display 120 which is typically a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) have typical configurations. The display drive unit 130outputs display data including graphic data outputted via the display120 and backlight control signals.

The wireless communication unit 140 includes an antenna and a radiofrequency (RF) circuit to communicate with base stations. The wirelesscommunication unit 140 is construed to cover existing mobilecommunication systems, such as CDMA, GSM, and W-CDMA, and mobilecommunication systems to appear in the future. The voice input/outputcircuit 150 converts digital voice data to analog voice signals and viceversa. The voice input/output circuit 150 has a well-known configurationincluding a filter or an audio amplifier amplifying voice signalsinputted/outputted according to a control signal of the controller 211.

A baseband circuit of the wireless communication unit 140 and mostcircuits of the controller 211 are integrated into a commerciallyavailable single chip. This IC chip, which is usually called a mobilestation modem (MSM) chip, includes dedicated hardware for communicationprocessing, a digital signal processor, and a general-purposemicroprocessor. They control voice and data communications and alsocontrol the entire system according to operating states or signalsinputted from the keypad 110.

The audio player 160 includes, for example, a sound source reproductionchip, such as Yamaha chip, or a DSP chip for MP3 reproduction, and playsback and outputs bell sounds, effect sounds, music files or the like tothe audio output unit 170. The audio output unit 170 amplifies andoutputs various sounds such as bell sounds, effect sounds, or musicfiles played back from the audio player 160 according to a controlsignal outputted from the controller 211.

The main memory 190 includes a RAM area temporarily storing datagenerated during control of the mobile communication terminal, a ROMarea storing a control program for controlling the mobile communicationterminal, and a data area storing a user interface (U/I) or a userapplication and data created by the user application, which are offeredby the mobile communication terminal. The main memory 190 is controlledby the controller 211.

Also, the main memory 190 includes a multimedia database 191 storingmultimedia data received via the wireless communication unit 140 andvarious interfaces or multimedia data outputted from a camera unit 180.The multimedia database 191 stores multimedia data outputted from thewireless communication unit 140 or the camera unit 180. The multimediadata is accessed by the controller 211.

The mobile communication terminal may further include a camera unit 180for converting a light signal inputted from a lens system to anelectrical image signal. The front_end chip 210 and the back_end chip220 synchronize digest information obtained from multimedia data such asmoving images and image data outputted from the camera unit 180. Thecamera unit 180 includes a lens system 181, an image pickup unit 182converting a light signal outputted from the lens system 181 to ananalog electrical signal, a converter 183 converting the signaloutputted from the image pickup unit 182 to a digital signal and thentransforming it to a signal of a format suitable to be input to thesignal processor 200, and a camera controller 184 controlling theoperation of the camera unit 180.

The lens system 181, which includes one or more small lenses, condenseslight and then supplies the light to the image pickup unit 182. Theimage pickup unit 182 typically includes a CMOS image pickup device or aCCD image pickup device. The image pickup unit 182 converts light intoelectrical signals in each cell and sequentially outputs them insynchronization with clocks. The converter 183 converts a current or avoltage proportional to the brightness of an image outputted from theimage pickup unit 182 into digital data, and then converts the data toYUV-format data. The converter 183 may further include a codec whichcompresses images into JPEG-format or MPEG-format data as in a typicalcamera module.

The signal processor 200 processes multimedia data, which is outputtedfrom the wireless communication unit 140 or the camera unit 180, or isstored in the main memory 190, according to a control signal of thecontroller 211, and converts it to data of a format suitable to beoutput to the display 120. The signal processor 200 has been developedby the present applicant for use in a camera phone. The signal processor200 can be used for the camera unit 180 with no change in its structure.

The back_end chip 220 includes a multimedia processor 221 whichprocesses multimedia data outputted from the signal processor 200 andoutputs it to the display 120, a first encryptor 222 which extracts andencrypts digest information of multimedia data stored in the main memory190, a first sub-memory 223 which stores the digest information of themultimedia data outputted from the first encryptor 222, and a digestinformation processor 224 which provides the digest information storedin the first sub-memory 223 upon occurrence of a synchronization eventand updates the digest information stored in the first sub-memory 223upon updating of the multimedia data.

The multimedia processor 221 outputs multimedia data outputted from thesignal processor 200 to the display 120. For example, when moving imagesand pictures are taken through the camera unit 180, an image sensoroutputs raw Bayer RGB format data according to an image pickup signalgenerated from light entering through a lens system. The signalprocessor 200 (ISP: image signal processor) receives and converts it toactual RGB-format multimedia data.

The RGB-format multimedia data is converted to YUV-format data suitablefor the multimedia processor 221 of the back_end chip 220, i.e.,YUV-format data suitable to be output to the display of the mobilecommunication terminal. The multimedia processor 221 of the back_endchip 220 processes the received YUV-format moving images and outputs itto the display 120.

The first encryptor 222 encrypts multimedia data stored in the mainmemory 190 into 128-bit digest information using an MD5 (message digest5) algorithm and stores it in the first sub-memory 223. The MD5algorithm is specified in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)Requests for Comments (RFC) 1321, which will be described in detailbelow. The first sub-memory 223 is a small-capacity memory, such as acache memory. The first sub-memory 223 stores digest informationoutputted from the first encryptor 222. The digest information of themultimedia data is provided to the front_end chip through the digestinformation processor 224 and is updated upon synchronization.

The digest information processor 224, for example, provides themultimedia digest information stored in the first sub-memory 223 to thefront_end chip 210 upon booting of the mobile communication terminal orupon occurrence of a synchronization event such as storing, modifying ordeleting multimedia data in the main memory 190. That is, the digestinformation of multimedia data stored in the back_end chip 220 and thedigest information of multimedia data stored in the front_end chip 210are compared with each other to determine the effectiveness of theinformation, and then digest information of multimedia data stored in achip determined to be incorrect is modified into digest information ofmultimedia data stored in a chip determined to be correct, therebysynchronizing the digest information between both of the chips.

The front_end chip 210 includes a controller 211 controlling the mobilecommunication terminal. The controller 211 includes a second encryptor211-1 which encrypts digest information of multimedia data stored in themultimedia database 191 of the main memory 190, a second sub-memory211-2 which stores the multimedia digest information encrypted by thesecond encryptor 211-1, and a digest information synchronization unit211-3 which compares and synchronizes multimedia digest informationreceived from the digest information processor 224 and multimedia digestinformation stored in advance in the second sub-memory 211-2.

The second encryptor 211-1 encrypts multimedia data stored in the mainmemory 190 into 128-bit digest information using the MD5 algorithm andstores it in the second sub-memory 211-2. The second sub-memory 211-2 isa small-capacity memory mounted on the front_end chip 210, such as acache memory. The second sub-memory 211-2 stores digest informationoutputted from the second encryptor 211-1.

The digest information synchronization unit 211-3, for example, receivesand collects the multimedia digest information stored in the back_endchip 220 upon booting of the mobile communication terminal or uponoccurrence of a synchronization event such as adding, modifying ordeleting multimedia data, and synchronizes the digest informationbetween the two chips. After the multimedia digest information stored inthe back_end chip 220 is provided to the front_end chip 210 at therequest of the digest information synchronization unit 211-3, or isaccessed directly by the digest information synchronization unit 211-3of the front_end chip 210, it is compared with the multimedia digestinformation stored in the front_end chip 210.

The digest information synchronization unit 211-3 compares themultimedia digest information stored in the back_end chip 220 with themultimedia digest information stored in the front_end chip 210 todetermine the effectiveness of the digest information, and modifiesdigest information of multimedia data stored in a chip determined to beincorrect into digest information of multimedia data stored in a chipdetermined to be correct, thereby synchronizing the digest informationbetween both of the chips.

The back_end chip 220 and the front_end chip 210 of the mobilecommunication terminal according to the present invention use the MD5algorithm to authenticate messages exchanged between the two chips. TheMD5 algorithm is used to verify data integrity through the creation of a128-bit message digest from data input. The MD5 algorithm is anextension of MD4, which was developed by Professor Ronald L. Rivest, andis based on a hash function designed for fast execution of software.

To use the hash functions efficiently for the purpose of messageauthentication, measures should be taken against ‘inversion’,‘collision’, and ‘forgery’. The term ‘inversion’ implies that a messageis found from a given hash value. The term ‘collision’ implies that twoor more different messages have the same hash value. The term ‘forgery’implies that a message authentication code is calculated with noknowledge of cipher and key. The hash function converts a message of anylength to a hash value of a fixed length.

The mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of thepresent invention synchronizes the time when multimedia data is updated,for example, when the multimedia data is added, modified, or deleted, orthe digest information of the multimedia data. For example, when a usertakes moving images and pictures through the camera unit 180, multimediadata created from the moving images and pictures is displayed in thedisplay 120 through the signal processor 200 and the back_end chip 220,and is stored in the multimedia database 191 of the main memory 190.

The first encryptor 222 of the back_end chip 220 converts the multimediadata stored in the main memory 190 to 128-bit digest information usingthe MD5 algorithm and stores it in the first sub-memory 223. After thedata created from the moving images and pictures taken by the cameraunit 180 is stored, the digest information synchronization unit 211-3 ofthe front_end chip 210 requests the digest information processor 224 ofthe back_end chip 220 to offer the multimedia digest information storedin the first sub-memory 223 of the back_end chip 220. The digestinformation processor 224 transmits the multimedia digest informationstored in the first sub-memory 223 to the digest informationsynchronization unit 211-3.

The digest information synchronization unit 211-3 compares multimediadigest information stored in the first sub-memory 223 with multimediadigest information stored in the second sub-memory 211-2 to determinethe effectiveness of the information, and modifies digest information ofmultimedia data stored in a chip determined to be incorrect into digestinformation of multimedia data stored in a chip determined to becorrect, thereby synchronizing the digest information between both ofthe chips. That is, when the first sub-memory 223 of the back_end chip220 stores digest information of ‘A’ while the second sub-memory 211-2of the front_end chip 210 does not store the digest information of ‘A’,the digest information synchronization unit 211-3 updates the secondsub-memory 211-2 of the front_end chip 210 to store the digestinformation of ‘A’.

Additionally, the front_end chip 210 and the back_end chip 220 of themobile communication terminal can synchronize multimedia digestinformation updated at predetermined time periods. The synchronizationtime period of the digest information is set by an operating program ofthe mobile communication terminal. The operating program transmits acontrol signal to the digest information synchronization unit 211-3 ofthe front_end chip 210 at predetermined time periods. The digestinformation synchronization unit 211-3 of the front_end chip 210receives the control signal transmitted at predetermined time periodsand requests the digest information processor 224 of the back_end chip220 to offer the digest information for synchronization of the digestinformation between the two chips. As a result, it may be possible toprevent overload imposed on the mobile communication terminal due tofrequent synchronization.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a synchronization process of multimedia dataimplemented in a mobile communication terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention. According to the synchronizationprocess of multimedia data, when a user presses a power-on button of themobile communication terminal, the controller 211 of the front_end chip210 accesses a terminal operating program stored in the memory 190(S101).

The digest information synchronization unit 211-3 of the controller 211requests the digest information processor 224 of the back_end chip 220to offer digest information of multimedia data stored in the firstsub-memory 223 for synchronization of the multimedia digest informationwith the back_end chip 220 (S102). The digest information processor 224accesses and sends the digest information of multimedia data stored inthe first sub-memory 223 to the digest information synchronization unit211-3 of the front_end chip 210 (S103). The digest informationsynchronization unit 211-3 accesses and compares the digest informationof the multimedia data stored in the second sub-memory 211-2 of thefront_end chip 210 with the digest information of the back_end chip 220sent from the digest information processor 224 to determine theeffectiveness of the information. The effectiveness is determinedaccording to whether or not the multimedia digest information stored inthe two chips are matched with each other. If matched, the digestinformation synchronization unit 211-3 terminates the synchronizationprocess (S104).

If the effectiveness between the two chips is computationallyinfeasible, i.e., if there exist different digest information among aplurality of digest information, the respective digest information aresynchronized to secure data integrity. For example, when the firstsub-memory 223 of the back_end chip 220 stores digest information of ‘A’while the second sub-memory 211-2 of the front_end chip 210 does notstores the digest information of ‘A’, the digest informationsynchronization unit 211-3 updates the second sub-memory 211-2 of thefront_end chip 210 to store the digest information of ‘A’ (S105).

When the multimedia data stored in the main memory 190 is updated(S106), e.g., when a user takes and stores moving images or picturesusing the camera unit 180 mounted on the mobile communication terminalor when a user downloads multimedia data offered by a mobile carrier orthe like, the back_end chip 220 displays multimedia data, which isoutput from the camera unit 180 or the wireless communication unit 140and an external interface incorporated in the mobile communicationterminal and is input through the signal processor 200, on the display120 and stores it in the main memory 190 (S107).

The first encryptor 222 of the back_end chip 220 encrypts the multimediadata into 128-bit digest information using the MD5 algorithm and storesit in the first sub-memory 223 (S108). For example, after multimediadata such as moving images or pictures taken by the camera unit 180 isstored, the digest information synchronization unit 211-3 of thefront_end chip 210 requests the digest information processor 224 of theback_end chip 220 to offer a plurality of multimedia digest informationstored in the first sub-memory 223 of the back_end chip 220 (S109). Thedigest information processor 224 sends the multimedia digest informationstored in the first sub-memory 223 to the digest informationsynchronization unit 211-3 (S110).

The digest information synchronization unit 211-3 compares themultimedia digest information stored in the first sub-memory 223 withthe multimedia digest information of the second sub-memory 211-2, andretrieves digest information of multimedia data taken by the camera unit180. The digest information synchronization unit 211-3 receives theretrieved digest information from the back_end chip 220 and stores it inthe second sub-memory 211-2 of the front_end chip 210, therebysynchronizing digest information between the two chips (S111 and S112).

In addition, the front_end chip 210 and the back_end chip 220 of themobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the presentinvention can synchronize multimedia digest information updated atpredetermined time periods, which may prevent overload imposed on themobile communication terminal due to frequent synchronization.

As apparent from the above description, a method of managing multimediadata and a mobile communication terminal using the method according toembodiments of the present invention create digest information from themultimedia data stored in a main memory using a digest algorithm, storethe created digest information both in a front_end chip and in aback_end chip, and synchronize the digest information between the twochips, which may prevent overload imposed on the mobile communicationterminal due to increased message exchange between the front_end chipand the back_end chip.

In addition, since both chips store multimedia digest information, datarecovery is possible when data is destroyed and it is easy to manageinformation of the entire system.

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that various changes in form and details may be made thereinwithout departing from the scope of the present invention as defined bythe following claims and their equivalents.

1. A mobile communication terminal having a function of managingmultimedia data, comprising: a main memory to store the multimedia data;a signal processor to convert the multimedia data stored in the mainmemory from a first format into a second format to be output to adisplay of the mobile communication terminal; a first sub-memory tostore a first digest information of multimedia data; a controlling unitto control the mobile communication terminal, to request the firstdigest information stored in the first sub-memory, to compare the firstdigest information provided in the first sub-memory and a second digestinformation stored in a second sub-memory, wherein the controlling unitupdates the second sub-memory to store the first digest informationprovided from the first sub-memory if the first digest informationprovided from the first sub-memory is different from the second digestinformation stored in the second sub-memory.
 2. The mobile communicationterminal of claim 1, further comprising a multimedia processor to outputthe multimedia data outputted from the signal processor.
 3. The mobilecommunication terminal of claim 1, further comprising a digestinformation processor to provide the first digest information stored inthe first sub-memory in response to a signal requesting the first digestinformation to be synchronized.
 4. The mobile communication terminal ofclaim 1, further comprising a camera unit to convert a light signalinputted via a lens system into an electrical image signal.
 5. Themobile communication terminal of claim 4, further comprising a firstencryptor to extract and encrypt the first digest information ofmultimedia data that is outputted in real time from the camera unit or awireless communication unit or is stored in the main memory.
 6. Themobile communication terminal of claim 4, wherein the controlling unitcomprises: a second encryptor to extract and encrypt the second digestinformation of multimedia data that is outputted in real time from thecamera unit or a wireless communication unit or is stored in the mainmemory; the second sub-memory to store the second digest information ofmultimedia data encrypted by the second encryptor; and a digestinformation synchronization unit to compare and synchronize the firstdigest information of multimedia data received or collected from adigest information processor and the second digest information ofmultimedia data stored in the second sub-memory.
 7. A method formanaging multimedia data in a mobile communication terminal, comprising:encrypting and storing first digest information and second digestinformation of multimedia data in a first sub-memory and a secondsub-memory, respectively; requesting the second digest information ofmultimedia data stored in the second sub-memory; and comparing andsynchronizing the first digest information of multimedia data providedfrom the first sub-memory and the second digest information ofmultimedia data stored in the second sub-memory, wherein synchronizingthe first digest information and the second digest information comprisesupdating the second sub-memory of a controlling unit to store the firstdigest information provided from the first sub-memory if the firstdigest information provided from the first sub-memory is different fromthe second digest information of multimedia data stored in the secondsub-memory.